Scenic Drives & Scenic Places | Auto & RV Touring

Scenic View of Mississippi River Valley from Effigy Mounds National Monument

Welcome to ScenicPathways, a guide to scenic drives, interesting travel destinations and attractions, and places of particular interest to campers and RVers.

We are Ross & Joanne veteran campers and wilderness explorers (by canoe) who in retirement bought a motorhome to travel across the United States and Canada. Here we pass on tips to some of our favorite drives, scenic places and favorite destinations to spend a few days.

Fall Color Drives

Later in the fall, one of our favorite scenic drives is along the Upper Mississippi Great River Road (see articles here). During this section of the Great River Road, much of the scenic drive runs along the actual river itself and through picturesque smaller towns who owe their founding to an era when travel along the Great River was the primary means of moving goods and people north and south. The picture at the top of this page shows a view from Effigy Mounds National Monument Park located on the top of one of the many bluffs that line the river along the Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota scenic drives.

Last winter we extended our exploration of Florida’s Scenic Gulf Coast Highway 98 from Pensacola Beach to south of Tallahassee. At Tallahassee, Highway 98 moves away from the coast and technically no longer a coastal drive. However, we had heard good things about Cedar Keys, a Gulf resort beach community about 150 miles south of Tallahassee. So we took a drive down that far and we really impressed. See our article on things to see and do visiting Cedar Key. Also found two campgrounds down there we like: Shell Mound County Park and Manatee Springs State Park.

St. Croix Interstate Park & Campground along the St. Croix National Scenic River. See our beautiful fall color pictures. The park offers camping on both sides of the river and some terrific hiking and scenery along the canyon rim of the river.

Scenic Travel & RV GuidesWhile the Internet has a wealth of information, we always use and like hand-held books and guides that require no electricity or wireless connection to use!

RV Travel Links and ResourcesIf you are a camper or RV traveler, here’s some of our favorite and useful links to Internet guides to campgrounds and parks, other blogs with useful scenic travel info, and other stuff of interest to the motor home and rv campers.

The recent Hurricane of 2018 will affect travel along the Florida Gulf Coast Scenic Drive from Panana City Beach to historic Apalachicola, Florida. You’ll have to take a few detours along the route. Fortunately, although they got a lot of water, Apalachicola should be recovering nicely from the storm and is planning on continuing to hold their annual Florida Seafood Festival.

Searching. You can use the Search box to find information of interest (like RV Camping) or sometimes the topic of your interest is among the drill down links in the Main Menu. For example if you are interested in seeing maps of the Great River Road Scenic Drive, go to “Scenic Drives & Scenic Places” then to “Great River Road Scenic Drive” and then in the drop-down menu see “Great River Road Map & Directory.”

Thanks David for the compliment. The Trace is a neat ride isn’t it. We have 2005 QD which is now going into winter storage until we take our spring trip. If you ever do any traveling in the north central US you might also enjoy our SuperiorTrails.com website.

Hi Ross and Jo
About a year ago you contacted me to request a link to your site. I put it off at that point (can’t remember why) but have just checked back to discover that your posts have continued to grow and…Wow! Your blog has become a great valuable resource for RVers.
Good job!!!
You’ll find the link here: http://www.frugal-rv-travel.com/RV-Travel-Blog.html
Let me know if you’d like any changes.
By the way, have you discovered my other website for RVers yet? It’s new, and a totally unique idea that’s catching on fast. Check it out at http://www.boondockerswelcome.com